Well, here we are at another Friday. I'm still in rest/recovery mode due to my leg/shin injury. It's feeling much better, so I'm hopeful that things will work out and I can still train well for the marathon. I've kind of decided that I'm going to do it, even if I have to walk a lot of it. This week has been a really good lesson in patience and learning to adjust expectations.
Saturday - Rest. Play outside. Enjoy our baby pool. Live life.
Sunday - Easy 3 mile run. Easy easy easy; slow slow slow. I mentioned my run on Monday, but it was really great! No pain, although there was some residual achiness afterward. But I took a minimal amount of ibuprofen today as well, because at this point I don't want to mask it. I want to know what's really going on down there.
Monday - 5 miles on the bike, averaging about 13 mph. I was a little nervous about this on Sunday night, but Monday morning I think I literally bounced out of bed. I was excited! I got ready to go, strapped on my helmet, and took off. It was actually pretty funny to have my Garmin beep 1 mile at me around 4:00 minutes. Fastest mile ever! If only I could run that fast! This was kind of a short test ride for me. I forgot how to shift gears, so I became reacquainted with that, as well as drinking on the bike. Remember "no hands!" when you were little? Well, one handed is kind of tricky at the moment. Also? My quads were like jelly when I hopped off at the end. I'd call that a success!
Tuesday - A less than stellar easy 3 miles. Had some stiffness and discomfort in my lower leg, on both inside and outside, for the first 1.5 miles accompanied by uncomfortable twinges under my kneecap. Both went away after that first 1.5 miles. Then I had a glorious mile where I felt like I could conquer the world. Then the last .50 mile, I started getting some discomfort over my shin. Again, all discomfort - never actual pain. But I was really hoping to feel back to normal. Not exactly how I wanted things to go this morning. :o( It could have been because I sped up a bit. My splits were 10:03, 9:56, 9:47.
Wednesday - Rest. I was planning on taking the bike out again this morning, but it was super windy in the AM. Like, 20mph gusts of wind. I was a little nervous about getting blown off the bike!
I managed to get in at 8am to see my doctor for a follow-up on the leg. It's not as bad as it was, but it's still not quite right. She was pretty confident that it is not a stress fracture, and she thinks that switching shoes could have altered the way some of the ligaments & tendons move, which is causing the discomfort now. So I have an appointment with an orthopedic doctor on Monday. Fingers crossed that it just keeps getting better!
Thursday - Another easy 3 miles. I wore my compression socks on this run, and I think that really helped. I still had some discomfort, but it was intermittent and in various areas like lower inner soleus muscle, then over my shin, then outer shin muscle (whatever that's called). So I'm feeling pretty positive about this. One of my coaches suggested that I get in for a deep tissue sports medicine massage. I was able to get an appointment to do so on my lunch break, but not until Tuesday. :o( So, we'll just keep trucking along, slow and steady, until then. Paces were 10:18, 9:59, 9:57.
Friday - 6 miles on the bike! I woke up with a really annoying sinus headache, but that didn't stop me. I averaged about 14.5mph, but my quads were definitely working! Pedaling the bike doesn't seem to aggravate my lower leg, so I think this will work out really nice as a cross training tool.
My doctor helped me come to the decision not to run the half marathon tomorrow. Her exact words were "um...no". Ha! So we're still going to the to Twin Cities to enjoy our "adult weekend", and I may end up doing 5 or 6 slow & easy miles Saturday morning instead. Happy Friday!
Do you deal well with change? How do you adapt when your goals change?
Haha every time I'm done riding my Garmin thinks I broke every running record ever. No, no Garmin, I wasn't running, sorry.
ReplyDeleteCompression socks, of course! Those helped me a lot with my injury. I never liked wearing them during runs but I would put them on when I got home. Sometimes I'd wear them around all day.
I'm glad you and your doctor were able to come to a decision about the half (even if it's not what you wanted). It sounds like you are doing all the right things for your recovery!